Grab to invest $250 million in Indonesian startups

Southeast Asia ride-hailing company Grab has launched its innovation arm, Grab Ventures, in Indonesia, which will invest US$250 million in Indonesian startups — to be rolled out within three years.

Grab will partner or invest in startups who want to solve mobility, food, logistics, fintech and other O2O challenges.

The goal is to form strategic partnerships with these startups and possibly integrate them with Grab’s platform, advancing the company’s ambitions to become an everyday app(for example, by integrating delivery services provided by partnering startups).

“We are looking at startups in both series A and B, which we could integrate into our ecosystem,” Ridzki Kramadibrata, managing director for Indonesia said.

The company, which counts Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing and Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp among its backers, has already starting looking at startups and will start funding rounds later this year, he added.

Grab’s rival Go-Jek has already evolved from a ride-hailing service to a one-stop app allowing Indonesian clients to make online payments and order everything from food, groceries to massages. It is now looking to expand in Southeast Asia, to Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore.

Kramadibrata said Grab is currently the top ride-hailing player in Indonesia and that he was confident the firm would be able to maintain the lead. The firm is valued at around $11 billion, according to sources.

“We hold 65 percent of (Indonesia’s) ride-hailing market, as based on total rides and transactions,” said Kramadibrata. “And it won’t stop there, our market share is increasing.”

It has expanded to 137 cities today, covering Sabang to Merauke. Grab also claims to have a 65 per cent market share.

The company’s food delivery service GrabFood expanded to over 20 new cities this year and is now in 30 cities. Its Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) in Indonesia almost quadrupled in the first half of 2018.

Its parcel delivery service GrabExpress’s GMV in Indonesia also almost tripled in the first half of 2018.